Miles on Monday: 56 years of Kind of Blue

It was 56 years ago today that Miles Davis went into Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in New York City to begin recording Kind of Blue, his best-known work that has been cited variously over the ensuing years as the best-selling, most influential, and greatest jazz album of all time.

During that first session on Monday, March 2, 1959, the tracks "So What," "Freddie Freeloader" and "Blue in Green" were recorded for side one of the original LP.

A few weeks later, on Wednesday, April 22, Davis and his band - saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb - went back in the studio to record "All Blues" and "Flamenco Sketches" for side two.

Kind of Blue was released by Columbia Records on August 17, 1959 and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. You can hear the album in its entirety by clicking on the embedded video window below.